Electric connector.



B. J. OVINGTON & J. E. HERLI HY.

ELECTRIC CONNECTOR.

APPLICATION FILED BEPT.11,191Z

Patented Dec. 8, 1914.

lifimasse'sx 7 I .ljzverairsx z a diva/2156.1 Ouaflk and 4 rjjay...F./rlzjzy,

To all .whom it may concern:

urn'rnn STATES PATENT onn cn.

OVINGTON, OF BBOOKLINE, AND JOHN E. HERLIHY, OF CAIEBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO SIMPLEX ELECTRIC HEATING COMPANY, OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

ELECTRIC CONNECTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 8, 1914.

Application filed September 11, 1912. Serial No. 719,759.

Be it known that we EDWARD J. Ovmo- TON, acitizen of the United States, and resident of Brookline, county of Norfolk, State of Massachusetts, and JOHN E. HERLIHY, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Cambridge, county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Electric Connectors, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a speclfication, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.- v

.Our invention is a connector for an electric circuit of the type comprising a socket member ,and a cooperating male member, v

one of them, usual y the socket member,

being adapted to be attached to the supply circuit and the other, usually the exposed on male member, being adapted removably tofit said socket and to be attached to the article, device .or circuit that is to receive current. In connectors of this type it has heretofore been common practice, among various expedients, to slit one of the contacts,.as, for instance, the metallic sockets or contact members of thesocket-part of the connector so that they may be contracted to a smaller diameter than the pinsofthe male member, (or so that the pins might be spread, where slotted pins were employed) and thereby pinch or have a spring effect upon the pinswhen the latter are inserted in circuit closing position,but these are apt to spread and ose'theirspring effect. It has also been another. common ractice to have the-metal sockets loosely he (1 in their container, but with a wider or narrower spacing between centers than the pins of the male member, so that when the male member is inserted the pins necessarily come into forcible frictional contact with the sockets by being obli ed to force the latter some what out of a inement in entering, but becansenf the lcoseness of these metal sockets their action is somewhat uncertain. Also in both of these common constructions it requires some force to pushthe male member home, and also to remove t, the latter being desirable for insuring a quick break to prevent arcing. Where, however, the connector is attached to a light portable article, or where it would be awkward or diflicult to stance of the known methods of securing proper contact,

and in our preferred construction we provide a spring or springs for-deflecting one or both of the metal sockets (or plugs) or movin them sufficiently out of alinement with t e ins (or sockets) to insure the desired hard frictional engagement, and as a further feature of the invention we provide means whereby this spring pressure may be momentarily externally released when the device is used in such positions that it is a disadvantage to require a strong pull for disconnecting the parts. Preferably this release is in the form of a usb button connected either directly or in irectly with the spring or extended from or contacting or connecting with the tubular socket or sockets or with the plugs.

In the drawings, in which we have shown a preferred embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 is a view in front elevation ofone form of connector; Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof; Fig. 3 is a view partly in section showing the internal construction, with one of the inclosing parts removed; Figs. 4, 5,

r 6 are views similar to Fig. 3 showing modifications; and Fig. 7 is a pers ective view of one form of fixed member, s owing an inplug or pin member fast on the article. 1

Referring first for convenience, to the form of our invention shown in Figs. 1-3, the socket member properv 1 for connection to the supply circuit may have a casing or body of any usual or preferred external.

shape or construction, being shown as consisting of two similar halves or parts 2, 3

secured by screw bolts 4,5, 6, and recessed at 7 to receive the supply circuit wires from whose branches extend opposite recesses 8,

for the terminals or contact tubes 9 (which latter may have any desired cross-sectional shape) said recesses 8 terminating in reduced openings 10 for directing the co operating pin-terminals, or plug-contacts 11 of the male part of the connector. The said male part or member may likewise have a casing .01 body of any usual or preferred n anaeea general shape 'or type, said pins being herein shown as mounted in a plate 12 which may be considered as a conventional showing of the casing or body of such usual male carrying member; As shown in. Fig. 3, a spring 13 is carried in a recess 14 to press against the adjacent metal tubulnr socket or terminal contact 9 and throw it into divergent relationwith the other socket orterminal contact, 6.. outof a'linement or parallelism with the opposite socket 9. Thus, when the pins-11 enter the openings 10, they meet with the frictional resistancewhen they enter the tubes 9,-which is due to one of these ance of the spring makes the position of the metal tubular contact or terminal socket and the friction certain and definite and it insures uniformity of action and is, more-.

over, inexpensive and'not liable to get out of order. As already stated, we do not in= tend to be limited to the exact position of the spring, nor to the use of one spring, nor to the use of spring pressure against one of the metal contact tubes 9 alone, although the construction shown is preferable for its simplicity and serviceableness.

- In Fig. 4 we have shown a socket member plug terminals or pins 22, 23 of the male member. In order to make our showing comprehensive, we illustrate in Fig. 5 one terminal 22 laterally movable and one terminal 23 stationary, and in Fig. 4 both terminals 17, 18 movable, the latter showing also a parallel movement,while Fig. 3 shows a somewhat swinging movement, as also Fig.

6. In the latter (as in Fig. 3) a spring operates on only one terminal, Fig. 6 showing a connector whose socket member contains asingle terminal 25 (preferably tubular). au-

tomatically movable in. a recess 26 by a spring 2? and a compensating pin 28 in a fixed male member 29. Here the socket mem ber fits and is guided to closed position by Ehe cup-shaped part 30 of the plug memer 29; i

In F ig: 7' we show two fixed pins or projecting terminals 31, such for instance as might be used on an electric sad iron, orculinary appliance, to cooperate, for instance,

.- with the 7 socket member shownin Fig. 3"or Fig. 4. So, either of these may rece ve, or

combine with, the male member of either Fig. 1 or Fig. 5. Q

We nowcome to .the second important feature of our invention,in such cases, as already mentioned, where it is diflicult or,

undesirable to apply force in separating the pins and the tubes, we providea push button 16 for counteracting the force of the spring, 71-. e. for alining the contact (tube or tubes, or the pin or pins, as the case may be), said push button being shown in Fig.3; as extending-through the casing or body]. from the spring-held tube 9. Itwill be obvious that the push ':button could be arranged otherwise,so as to relieve the spring pressure, and accordingly it will be under stood that attaching the same directly to the'metal tube 9 is only a preferred -con'- struction.

In Figs. 4 and 5 is a loose button 33, 34, and in Fig. 6 is a wedgingstop or actuator 35 mounted to slide in a slot 36 and having an inturned end 37 to push the contact 25 over in opposition to the spring 27. Retracting the stop 35 backwardly, or to the left as shown in Fig. 6, permits the spring to act and deflect the socket 25, thereby insuring the contact with the plug 28. Also it will be understood that we are not limited to a push button specifically,ina'smuch as the idea broadly of providingan em-' ternally operated means of neutralizing, counteracting, overcoming and removing the efiect of the sprin is ourinvention, and." while we prefer a device which is movable out and in, we do not intend to be restricted thereto, but any movable part, externally. operable either directly or indirectly, which will ofiset the action of the spring-and tendto restore the metal tube or socket-part to proper alinement, on at least so that it does not ofiier strong frictional resistance, is with. in the spirit and scope of our-invention an hereinafter claimed in its broader aspectsl Having describe-d our'invention, what we claim as new anddesire to secure by Lettere: I

Patent is: I

1. An electrical connector, comprising separable members adapted to be attached and detached, in combination with means to secure the electrical contacts of said members under yielding tension, said means consisting in one member having an insulated casing, a .contact piece movable within said casing to disaline it therewith, a spring. arranged to exert pressure on said movable piece to disaline it, the other separable member actin automaticall during attachment, to ho] said movab e contact. piece into alinement in. opposition to the spring tension, arid means to remove the efl'ect of said spring before said members are disconnected.

2. In an electrical connector a socket member comprising a body portion, apertured contacts inclosed in said body portion for frictionally receiving sliding contact pins of a removable cooperating male member, means for yieldingly shifting one of said apertured contacts sidewise in said body portion for increasing its frictional resistance to said male member, and externally operable means for counteracting the influence of said yieldingly shifting means on said apertured contacts.

3. In an. electrical connector, 9. socket member containin two contact tubes, :1 spring for laterally shifting one of said tubes with relation to the other, and a push button extending externally of said socket member for, repressing said spring.

4. In an electrical connector, a socket. member containing two contact tubes, a

spring for laterally shifting one of said tubes with relation to the other, and a push button extending from said shiftable tubes for moving the same in opposition to said spring.

5. An electrical connector, comprising an insulated casing, a contact piece within said casing having provision to swing out of alinement, a spring adapted to exert pressure on said contact piece to dis-aline it, and

insulated casing, a contact piece within said casing having provision to swing out of alinement, a spring normally adapted to exert pressure on said contact piece to disaline 1t, and means having a manually operable portion exteriorly of said casing to release saidspring pressure entirely.

In testimony whereof, we have signed our names to this specification, in the presence of two subscribin witnesses.

ED ARD J. OVINGTON. JOHN E. HERLIHY. Witnesses:

J AS. I. AYER, FRANK A. Hm. 

